The area of optical communications has been successfully using wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) for years to achieve high per-fiber capacities. A recent advance in the area of optical communications is the use of optical superchannels to achieve high per-wavelength interface rates. An optical superchannel is composed of N subcarriers which form a single cohesive wavelength channel. Optical superchannels are gaining increased attractiveness due to the ability to generate high-speed interface rates using low-speed elements.